Dilara Findikoglu AW17 | Fashion Illustration

My illustration share the unique design from the last collection by Dilara Findikoglu. With vintage-inspired tailoring and the colors red and pink central to her work, Findikoglu’s clothes incorporate an obsession with punk and heavy metal with fashion history and feminist politics, mixing subcultural references from her teenage years with ideas about how women have been treated in different societies. In February, the LVMH Prize, officially making her one of the most exciting emerging designers working today.

DILARA FINDIKOGLU

Anything goes in the weird and wonderful world of Turkish-born designer Dilara Findikoglu. At her London Fashion Week debut in September 2016, Findikoglu spirited us away to the darkened basement of a Soho strip club, where a model could be seen donning checkerboard pants with an intricately beaded female reproductive system on the crotch. At the follow-up for AW17, fantastical flares with red flames vied for attention with a Marilyn Manson t-shirt refigured to feature conical breasts.

Despite the fast-rising designer’s recent success (she’s created a custom suit for Lady Gaga and official merch for Manson) Findikoglu’s road into fashion wasn’t exactly straightforward. First, she had to convince her traditional parents to allow her, their rebellious daughter, to leave Turkey to attend London’s Central Saint Martins. Then, as she prepared to graduate, her collection wasn’t picked for the university’s final fashion show. So, naturally, she staged a guerrilla presentation on the pavement instead.

“I just want to go my own way. There are loads of friends of mine who graduated at the same time and are making more wearable things and trying to reduce their embellishment and handwork, to be able to sell. I really want to sell, and I want to see my stuff on people as well, but I don’t want to lose the value of the garment. If you want to get something simple, you can go to the high-street brands and buy them, but if something makes it different, it has to stay like that.”. — Findikoglu for VOGUE